Monthly Archives: January 2013

Let’s do something fun in the spirit of Valentine’s Day! We love hearing about the amazing recipes you create with Rodelle, and we’d like to feature a Valentine inspired cupcake recipe created by one of you! Simply post your recipe on Facebook or email it to: cwallace@customblending.com.

We will run the contest from now until February 8th, and then test the recipes. We will judge the recipes based on taste, creativity, and what inspires us most for Valentine’s Day. We will announce the winner of the “Best Valentine’s Day Cupcake” on February 14th. The winner will receive a Rodelle goodie bag and have their recipe featured on our website.

Rules:
– Recipe must use one of our Rodelle products
– Must include a photograph
– Must be original
– Must be a cupcake recipe
– Must be submitted on, or before February 8th, 2013

My biggest baking fiasco occurred on a Thanksgiving of course! It was about 5 years ago and this was the first time I was to cook the fall feast for my husband’s family. I had the oven in overdrive all day Wednesday, trying to get all the baking done ahead of time.

Looking to impress my in-laws, I decided to attempt a homemade pumpkin cheesecake instead of regular ol’ pie. I spent over $40 on premium ingredients and another $29.95 (plus shipping & handling, gr!) on a 9″ springform pan. I had saved it for last because I wanted to be able to take my time with the recipe, never having made a cheesecake before.

So it was around 8:00 p.m. when I started and by 8:30 it was in the oven. About 15 minutes later, I noticed a burning smell & upon further invesigation discovered smoke pouring out of the oven vents! My husband and I open up the oven door and billows of smoke fill the kitchen. I pulled out the cake thinking it had leaked, but it was doing fine. I looked into the oven, and something from that day’s baking had dripped onto the bottom and it was now burning. I scraped out the burnt lump and put the cheesecake back in the oven.

10 minutes later, the smell & smoke were back. I pulled the half-baked cheesecake back out and saw that there was still something smoldering at the bottom of the oven.

Now the last thing I wanted to serve for dessert was a smoked pumpkin cheesecake! So, I figured the only thing to do was cool the oven down and clean it. I worried about how the cheesecake would do, sitting half-baked while I cleaned, but I saw no other solution.

An hour later, the oven is clean & I put the cheesecake back in, completely convinced it’s ruined. It bakes another 30 minutes & I pull it out around 10:30. I’m shocked. It’s firm, has no cracks & smells like heaven!! “Yay Me!”, I think smugly.

After letting it sit for 15 minutes, I picked it up to move it to the refrigerator. I very carefully walk it over to the fridge & my husband opens the door for me. I bent down to place it on a shelf and PHUMP! The bottom falls out of the springform pan and the whole cheesecake falls through. Half landed on the bottom fridge ledge and the other half landed on the kitchen floor.

A stunned moment of silence followed, during which both of us just stood there looking at this pile of pumpkin cheesecake. I looked up at my husband, opened our silverware drawer and quietly handed him a spoon. We kneeled down and scooped up a spoonful off the top of the pile, and took a taste. The first word spoken since the cake had dropped came from my husband after he tasted…”Damn”.

My funniest baking moment is with my granddaughter Gracie at 13 months old. We decided to bake a pan of brownies. As we’re mixing the batter Gracie’s Mommy (Sondra) is helping her friend Jenny clean up a large cup of hot chocolate she had knocked off the counter. As I’m pouring the batter into the pan Jenny said to Sondra “let me put my foot on” just as Jenny said that Gracie does exactly that puts her stocking foot right into the batter.
Yes we did bake the brownies, we did serve them to friends and family, then we showed them the video. Everyone laughed and loved it. Definitely a fun filled day and evening with friends and family.

In our family cheesecake will always be known as “sneeze cake.” This spring I was baked a vanilla cheesecake with a chocolate cookie crust, which is a favorite of all three of my children. I sliced and plated the cheesecake with the help of my eager 4 1/2 year old helper, Jacob. He carried a plate out to his twelve year old sister who happened to be holding the two year old on her lap. She had a huge smile when she got her plate until….my two year old turned and looked down at the piece of cheesecake and for some reason sneezed (very hard and loud) right on top of his sister’s dessert. The look on her face was priceless as her baby brother sneezed all over her favorite dessert. We have called it sneeze cake ever since.

We love our dogs and every year we try and get them something special. Unbeknownst to me, my husband had purchased a bulk lot of used tennis balls for them. since they were dusty with court clay, he washed them in the washing machine, but instead of drying them in the dryer, he put them in the over to dry. Again, without telling me.

As I began to prepare for my day of holiday baking, I gathered up all of my ingredients and baking tools, and began to preheat the oven. It was an old oven, so I knew to start the temp at 450 degrees in an attempt to get the thing hot before the holidays were over.

Are you starting to see what is about to happen?

I should have investigated when I heard our black Labrador Retriever, Jack, whimpering (and staring at the oven door.) It was the smell and the blue smoke that began to fill the kitchen that was my call to action. Opening the oven door, I was greeted by the sight of what appeared to be giant smoking peas. A lot of them.

Do tennis balls explode when super-heated? I didn’t want to find out. At least the dogs were smart enough to run.

I turned off the oven and quickly gathered a large stockpot and tongs. As fast as I could, I began to toss the hot balls into the pot; all 22 of them.

And then the pot went under the kitchen sink. I realized my mistake as the first steamy fumes enveloped by face and fogged my glasses. And the kitchen began to fill with the smell of evil. Five years later, when the weather is cold and the time for holiday baking comes around again, you can just catch a whiff of burned rubber that permeated the walls of the kitchen. Ah, the smell of the holidays.